The Oklahoma City Thunder took home the 2025 NBA championship — the first in the franchise’s 17 years here — thanks to a 103-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, capping what was a historically dominant year and a remarkable turnaround.
Despite the Thunder’s accomplishment, Game 7 may be most remembered for an unfortunate reason as Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton suffered what his father confirmed was a left Achilles injury while trying to drive to the basket with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
He would be ruled out for the rest of the game a short time later with a lower right leg injury – bringing what had been, to that point, a breathtaking postseason to a heartbreaking conclusion.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours and we deserve this.”
The championship is the culmination of the vision of the team’s general manager, Sam Presti, who has been in charge since the franchise’s final year in Seattle in 2007-08. Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder have the second-most regular season victories, behind only the Boston Celtics, and the fifth-most postseason victories.
Ironically, it did on the same day Kevin Durant, the foundational member of that first championship-caliber Thunder squad, was traded to the Houston Rockets, potentially making them Oklahoma City’s biggest threat to getting out of the Western Conference playoffs again next season.
